Jungles burn and Mountains fall. Here comes the "End Times: Thanquol"!

With Age of Sigmar coming closer with every day, it's finally time to finish my impromtu review (or trial) of the "End Times". The only books left are "Thanquol" and "Archaon". Today I'll review the rules presented in the former installment of the "End Times" saga.

Just FYI I won't be doing any posts about Age of Sigmar (or 9th edition or whatever the hell it will be) until it eventually comes out. I don't belive the rumors in general and don't like to speculate based on some (usually very poor) snippets of information, gathered from various blogs and websites. When AoT gets released I'll do a post about it. Until then however let's stick to the "End Times" and see this review to its very end.

Otherwise the Rats will get me

However I do NOT have a good feeling about Age of Sigmar. Call me a pessimist but I just don't.

Just like "Khaine" before it, "Thanquol" is quite huge and so will be split into a three-part review for your reading pleasure and the sake of my sanity. In this post I'll take a closer look at the new rules and the changes that they bring to the game.

1. New terrain rules

Lots of battles in "Thanquol" take place in the jungles of Lustria. As such there are new rules detailing the steamy, oppresive enviroment of Lizardmen's domain. Just like in "Glottkin" these rules are generally really well written and, unlike the special characters, are not unbalanced or game-breaking. They have been divided into couple of sections and generally should be used when playing the respective "EoT" campaigns but probably can also be used in standard games of Warhammer Fantasy.

A. Ancient Temple Cities

The cribs of Lizardmen got a nice boost in "EoT". "Ancient Ruins" provide any piece of Mystical Monument, Building and Arcane Architecture with the rule of the same name. That's nice and it is always cool to see some additions to game's terrain.

Then we have "Hidden Treasures". This actually takes me back to excellent Lustria campaign from 2005. What a cool supplement it was. Anyway, the "Hidden Treasures" rule allows any unit that touches or is inside the Anciet Ruins, to search them and aqquire fat loot. They do this by rolling a D6. On 1 to 5 nothing happens. However 6 grants them treasure which, if they manage to claim it until the very end of the game, gives them a whooping 100 victory points. But wait! There's a catch. After discovering the Hidden Treasure, they have to roll AGAIN. On a roll of 1 or 2, the "lucky" unit's player needs to roll a D6 on a special table and consult the results. They can vary from blowing up and dealing D6 Strength 8 hits to anyone within 6'' of the terrain, to re-rolling all successful To Hit rolls, both in shooting and CC or making an immediate Panic test. As you can probably guess, this is not a good thing. Looters beware!

My displeasure for "EoT" aside, this artwork is fucking awesome

B. Lustrian Jungle

Being an analogy of our world's South America, Lustria is covered completely in a thick, steamy and dangerous jungle, full of nasty surprises for non-Germans and non-Vikings. "Thanquol" expands the dangers of such a place and makes it utterly lethal. First of all, all forests are considered Jungle terrain. There's no need to roll on a Mysterious Terrain table. Every Skirmisher treats Jungles as a dangerous terrain while any other unit treats it as an impassable terrain. Same applies to Jungle Rivers, which are probably full of Piranhas and Aligators or something.

Finally there Jungle Events and they are a blast. During each player's turn a roll of 3D6 must be made and a special table consulted. Oh and Lizardmen players can re-roll results of 7 or less which is nice, but lower dosen't mean better in this instance.

Anyway the results on the Jungle Events table are downright sadistic. From a Lashworm Attack that deals D6 S4 hits to a unit, selected by the opposing player, to Quicksand which will swallow any model that fails his Initiative roll. On a roll of 8 to 13 nothing happens, but every other result is downright nasty, especially to low Toughness and low Initiative armies but even strong units can suffer horribly in the jungles of Lustria.

2. Lords of Battle rules and The Doom of Belegar Campaign

"End Times: Thanquol" introduce the new Lords of Battle Campaign rules, together with a unique campaign called The Doom of Belegar, Lords of Battle introduces the concept of fighting a series of linked battles, with every engagement having a few twists and surprises for everyone involved. Utilising a battle chart, composed of several battle boxes, linked together by campaign arrows that lead players to a victory box, that tells which player won the campaign.

There are also strategic characteristics in the form of Guile, Persuasion and Planning. Each of these traits have a rating, ranging from 1 to 5, however they can be buffed up to 10 by various modifiers. Usually each player will get 10 points to distribute between the three characteristics, the more the better. Testing these traits is done by rolling a D6. If the result is equal to or less than the characteristic being tested, the test is passed. A roll of 1 is always a success whereas a roll of 6 is always a failure. Sometimes they are also used in opposed tests, when each player rolls a D6 and adds the value of the startegic characteristic that is being tested. However has the higher result, wins. There are no ties allowed. In case of a tie, players roll again.

Generally players will utilize these traits when attempting to use the stratagems. And what exactly are these stratagems? Well...

An interesting concept has been introduced in "Thanquol" in the form of stratagems, which sometimes can be picked from battle boxes. These can be incredibly useful to the player that has found them, allowing for the deployment of a Mystical Monument of their choice, granting their character additional magic item, improving the stats of your soldiers or even assassinating enemy leaders!

Of course the Dwarves would never stoop to such low tactics!

I love things like these, as they greatly enhance the experience of playing a battle. You can turn the tide of battle with a well chosen Stratagem, as can your opponent. Suddendly a mundane game of "my dudes versus your dudes" becomes much more intense. This is the perfect example of a rule done right. Shame that it's one of the few, good additions to the game.

Finally there's the Doom of Belegar Campaign, which pits Dwarfs against the vile Skaven. This one is pretty straightforward and acts as a tutorial for people who wish to make their own Lords of Battle campaigns in the future. What baffles me is why there are none, official LoB games taking place in Lustria. "Thanquol" gave us a few pages of jungle fighting rules and then a campaign that is fought between the Dawi and the Ratkin. That's kinda weird and, in my opinion, a missed opportunity. Oh well...

The campaign itself represents the Skaven assault on Karak Eight Peaks and the subsequent taking of the ancient dwarven hold. Since these are the End Times we can't have nice things. Kind of like in the Horus Heresy, where there's a constant ass kicking of loyalists by traitors.

Anyway this campaign clearly shows how LoB rules should be used. Its special rules include "Endless Hordes of Ratkin" which allow the Skaven player to spam free Slave units and "Death Before Dishonour", making all Dwarves Unbreakable. Stratagems include Secret Tunnels, Allies and Foresight for Skaven and Cunning, Local Scouts and Defensive Positions for Dorfs, nicely representing the realities of the campaign in question (Dwarfs defend, as usual).

The Doom of Belegar clearly shows the usefulness and easy management of the battle charts. Everything is clear, everything is obvious and even people who are fresh to WFB will have no problems with using these new rules. Like I said before, this is the best thing that "Thanquol" has given us and, once again, proves the point that the best rules in the "End Times" are those for terrain and its application in games. Of course there were a couple of screw ups (Magical Fulcrums) but overall this part of "EoT" is great, much better than any rules concerning magic and special characters and units.

Which reminds me. You've probably noticed that I haven't covered any of the special units from "EoT" like Nurgle Plague Knights or Skaven Stormfiends. That's because I'll make a special post, after the review of Archaon, in which I'll talk in length about ever, single one of those units. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the "common" guys.

So this is it for this post. I hope that you've enjoyed reading about my (rather generous) opinions on the new game rules in "Thanquol". Next week will be the time for heroes and villians of the 4th installment in the "End Times".

Mainly villains

Until next time

Xathrodox86